The world is in a panic; adventures aborted as flights are cancelled. Chemists sold out of face masks & grimy thoughts lurk in the recesses of our normally healthy minds wondering if you are safe if you even wear one? Hand sanitiser on every shop counter & the world over & quarantine more present in our day to day vocabulary than ever before.
It feels a little ebola'ish & the media are fuelling the fear feeding frenzy. Should we go to china town for dinner? A seemingly harmless question that wouldn't have crossed your mind a month ago as you headed to to yum cha for brunch with the girls.
What the heck is going on??
Connection
As yogis we strive for connection to our higher selves, to our authentic selves, connection to each other & connection in community.
Connection to that that is greater than us, that is the sum of us.
We express & experience conscious connection in the way we greet each other with a gentle humble bow of the head in Namaste as we acknowledge our oneness - that the light tat shines in you is the very same light that shines with in me-
When breathing & moving together on our rubber rectangles in our collective asana practice.
Connection.
We look around & what we seek to build is being broken the world over by a virus.
Corona you bat wolf snake mutating cruel virusy manifestation of unearthly demons i'm a-talk'n to you.
I live in Bali, this Island of the Gods would normally have over 2.5 million visitors from mainland China in a year... not so in 2020 where we might be lucky to see but a 1/4 of that number if & when our planet bounces back from this catastrophe. The next biggest group are Auatralians & for the first time since 2016 we will out number the Chinese for arrivals into Bali. Come on Aussie come on.... over to Bali...
Low visitor numbers results in a massive hit to the tourism sector on Bali which literally translates restaurants closing, drivers with no work & businesses resting or closing down.
In outer Denpasar you can see fleets of cars no longer on the streets parked up gathering dust with just one lucky person remaining employed to give them a weekly wash..... obviously maintaining the positivity that this situation could change any day.
Little warungs & small one woman dream boutiques that were trading 7 days might only trade two or have taken extended leave closing their doors.
Some of the bigger group booking style resort hotels are quiet at 30% occupancy & not the budgeted 80% which is where you pass just surviving. It filters down to the smaller boutique venues too with staff being laid off & having to go back to their kampong or hometowns. Yet still the Balinese remain kinda optimistic, the streets are quiet.
ATM Bali has roughly 5000 Chinese people who either can't return home or have chosen to stay on the island until they feel it is safe(or are allowed) to return home. They have spent long hours at the Kantor Imigrassi, some have moved into more permanent accomodation arrangements & even put their kids in school. They are experiencing racism, the kind where people avoid talking to them or serving them in shops to which their default is to not speak out loud as people hear they accents & turn away. I reach out as I hear this story cause it makes me cry, everything that I strive for as a yogi kind of crumbles in that conversation & I just try & help as much as I can - I don't want them to feel ostracised, the yoga shala is a place where you are safe & loved. I want them to know they are welcome & they are loved.
Question? How do you think the mental health of the people affected & connected by the corona virus is?
Its not just Chinese that are feeling this personal pain....its anyone that is more or less Chinese looking from all over our globe.... disconnection, xeniphobia, racism, ostracisation, loneliness, isolation, quarantine, control, fear & sadness all the stuff that divides us in a world where we have been working so hard to bring us all together has been dumped by the wayside until we are given an all clear.
Do a little scan here.... be honest could you have been a little more compassionate? or has fear driven a tiny wedge some where inside you?
Thanks to the media frenzy to get any real information of the virus you have to dig deep... not the normal 26 second scroll & scan but I am taking Dr G (Google) Forensic X Files hunting 10 pages deep CSRIO evidenced based scientific factoid..... Then read 7 different medical science articles & gather the facts.
I am not a scientist & I am not going to throw my hat in the "know it all" ring here...
With all the restrictions in place we have no choice but to comply with the authorities..... but I still get a sense of these authorities gaining power & control aiming to further restrain our adventurous natures, or maybe thats just me?
Control loves fear , the more people live in fear the easier it is to control them
Do a little scan here......How are you reacting to fear? insightful right?
I fear has crept in Danielle Van De Velde has written a wonderful blog you can read here
This dives into 5 effective ways to transmute fear into possibility its a beautiful read with practical tools to move your from a place of fear to connectedness & creativity.
Pretty sure all mums tough their kids to cover your mouths when you cough & wash your hands after going to the bathroom - so yes do that.
If you are sick seek medical assistance & follow that advice in combination with TCM or Ayurveda or Indigenous ancient remedies- none of these should be dismissed.
Pretty sure most mums taught their kids loving kindness too...(& if they didn't request an upgrade in your next incarnation)
when you next take 5.....
Send loving kindness out into the world.
Send vibrations of compassion & connection to the people affected in Wuhan & mainland China as well as people impacted on other parts of our globe
Send thoughts of health & happiness so that people don't feel isolated & disconnected alone & scared
Send positive vibrations & energy out into the world to reconnect us.
We respond to fear the same way we respond to an actual threat. You see if we close our eyes & imagine something the brain cannot tell the difference between that imagined thought or something we captured with our actual eyes.....
John Lennon Imagined.... all the people living life in peace.
River Pheonix asked us.... to run to the rescue with love & peace will follow
Brene Brown reminds us..... that no matter how separated by what we think & what we believe that we are all part of the same spiritual journey
Spare a moment to honour our connectedness.
namaste
xxxkit
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